Nov 23, 2009

Banana Yoshimoto’s Asleep collects three slightly surreal novellas, all narrated by young women, and all connected with sleep—and loss. The first is called “Night and Night’s Travellers”, and it was my favourite of the three. It's narrated by Shibami, who is mourning her brother’s death. But this is as much her story as it is that of her cousin Mari, who had a deep connection with her brother and was profoundly affected by his passing. And it's also Sarah's story—an American exchange student who fell in love with Shibami's brother, and who hides a secret whose discovery brings her some solace.

In “Love Songs” we meet Fumi, a young woman who has been hearing a voice singing ethereally every night right before she falls asleep. The voice reminds her of Haru, another woman with whom she was once part of a love triangle, but who she hasn’t seen or heard from in years. Fumi and Haru supposedly hated each other, but the more she thinks of the other woman, the more Fumi realizes her feelings were more complex than that. Finally, “Asleep” is Terako’s story. Terako’s best friend Shiori has recently taken her life, and ever since, Terako has been sleeping her days away. She hasn’t told anyone what happened, not even her boyfriend—a boyfriend who has a wife in an irreversible coma, and who is mourning a loss of his own.

What I enjoy so much about Banana Yoshimoto’s books is not really the plot, and not even the characters—though I like these well enough. The reason why they appeal to me so much is the tone she uses—subtle, introspective, melancholy, subdued, bittersweet, and at times achingly beautiful. The emotional content of her stories is never flashy—most of the time, it's merely implied, and you find yourself slowing down to let it wash over you. If the tone were any different, I can see these stories becoming sentimental, or leaving me indifferent, or both. But fortunately the tone is just right, and this makes them both moving and memorable.

These are sad stories, but they're of a kind that is likely to leave you with a smile. Not because what is painful about them is brushed aside with levity at the end, but because they end at a point where you can just start to see the characters move on to a better place. These three young women confront their losses, and though this doesn't erase their pain, it allows them to begin to move beyond it.Another thing I really enjoyed about Asleep was its surreal and dreamy tone; the seamless mix of fantasy and reality. Two of the stories have ghostly apparitions, and even the one that doesn't allows you to imagine one just around the corner. These moments of strangeness, which could very well be dreams, feel natural among the book's late night hours, sleep-walking episodes, and lonely, thoughtful protagonists.

The more I read Banana Yoshimoto, the more I enjoy her work. And I've yet to pick up Kitchen, which most people seem to think of as her masterpiece. I mustn't let another year go by before I read her again.

Bits I liked:

The road stretched along one of the mounded-up banks of a river near the house where my father had grown up. It was that time of the evening, when off in the distance the other bank of the river is just beginning to drop away into the darkness of night. Soon the halo of light that always hung over the town would be reflected in the river, and even now the clear air was gradually filling with indigo, the indigo air drifted up, so that you almost felt as if you were seeing the air itself. The sky gleamed ever so faintly with the last traces of daylight, and everything was blurred, difficult to distinguish. Everything was beautiful.

The reverberations of that voice wandered sweetly, softly, working like a massage on the area of my heart that was the most tightly clenched, helping those knots to loosen. It was like the rush of waves, and like the laughter of people I’d met in all kinds of places, people I’d become friendly with and then separate from, and like the kind words all those people had said to me, and like the mewing of a cat I had lost, and like the mixture of noises that rang in the background in a place that was dear to me, a place far away, a place that no longer existed, and like the rushing of trees that whisked past my ears as I breathed in the scent of fresh greenery on a trip someplace…the voice was a combination of all this.

It's been many years since I read kitchen and I have forgotten what Banana Yoshimoto sounds like and why I liked it so much. I haven't read Asleep yet, but your review has made me want to go out and get it immediately.

It's so funny that I just picked this up yesterday from the throwaway pile at HPB. There were more than one copy in there, too. I know so little about Japanese literature and I've seen her name around the blogosphere a lot lately, so I picked her up on a whim. It sounds like a good book. I feel better knowing you enjoyed it.

I've been seeing this author kicking around on a bunch of blogs, and with each review, I become more convinced that I need to give her a shot. I've seen her books a few times at the used bookstore that we frequent (frequent being absolutely the correct term! ;) ), but have never hazard to pick up any of her books. I definitely think that I need to rectify this asap!

How do u find these wonderful books. Your recommendations are so off the popular radar but soo good that I just have to read them .At times I feel that there is a completely different alternative universe of books I haven't known :)

Have never read anything by this author. Clearly I have to fix that! Your description of the importance of her "tone" to the story sold me. So I guess I'll start with this one, and then go to Kitchen, which everyone says is wonderful. Thanks for the lovely review.

The only book I am familiar with from Yoshimoto is Kitchen, which I have also seen great reviews for. This book sounds very ephemeral and quiet, which is something that I think I could really appreciate. I also like that it is broken up into three separate stories dealing with the same theme. I think that it might give me a better sense of her writing to have a few different pieces to look at. This goes on the ever growing list!!